Road to Go North: Hey breweries – Sponsor this band!

In preparation for the third installment of the annual Go North Music Festival on St. Joseph Island, SooToday reached out to the participating artists to have a little fun getting to know these hard working musicians.

Next up on our Road to Go North series, we meet Heather Valley, Taylor Robertson, Dave Habza and Lindsay Bird, known collectively as Hamilton's Another Crush.

What are your three favourite things about touring northern Ontario?

• Driving between gigs - the landscape is classic Canadiana
• Looking for inuksuks on the side of the highway! It makes us feel connected to the people who travelled the road before us.
• The people. Northerners are so friendly, especially when they find out Heather is one of them!

What are three ways you battle through bug season in northern Ontario?

• Baby oil. It sounds crazy, but if you slather it on your skin the bugs can't get through!
• If you have to enter the bush, wear a white hat and clothing - it is less attractive to horseflies and deer flies - and run really fast the whole time so they can't keep up!
• Wrap yourself up in tulle and call it a fashion statement.

What are the three most important things to pack for festival season?

• A bathing suit that makes you feel like a million bucks
• A water bottle (so so so important!)
• A bright and vibrant beach towel - it is useful for so many things! It can dry you off, act as an umbrella, be a piece of clothing or a makeshift sleeping bag ... but most importantly it marks your spot on the grass where you are camping out to check out your fave band!

What are your top three road trip listening essentials?

• Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins - we will never get tired of this record, it is one of our biggest influences in writing for Another Crush.
• Didn't It Rain by Songs Ohia - the best Americana album of all time, perfect for late nights, lonely roads and driving around the great lakes
• Days are Gone by Haim - the perfect pop album to pump you up when you're rolling in to the next festival!

What are your three favourite ways to pass time on a long tour?

• Constructing awesome Spotify playlists (check out our latest playlist We Don't Want Ur Man)
• Telling the tales of our sordid pasts
• Listening to podcasts - our current fave is Your Favorite Band Sucks

What are your three favourite Ontario skinny dipping spots?

• Guelph Lake (shout out to our buddy Francis who once accidentally flashed Sarah Harmer at Hillside Festival LOL)
• The Mattawa River - there are lots of great spots to take a break along this gorgeous river
• The far reaches of Lake Temagami on portage. It can feel like you are the only one left in the world. And that can be really nice sometimes.

What are your three favourite Ontario craft brews?
Hey breweries - please sponsor our band! LOL:

• New Ontario Brewing Clothing Optional IPA - a great beer from a newish brewery in Heather's hometown of North Bay
• Collective Arts Lunch Money Ale - an excellent classic ale by our local fave, Collective Arts
• Flying Monkey Anti-Gravity Ale - the most delicious after taste of any beer in Ontario

What are your three favourite topics to read about?

• Hustlin'
• Taking names
• Foreign trade

Besides being a musician, what are three skills you'd like to learn?

• Our band is pretty ... unusual? It includes one full fledged lawyer who is no longer practicing, an MBA and a dude who turned down a prestigious business school offer to join our band instead. So we already know a couple things beyond music. But we are always learning and we would love to learn a few craft trades, like gem setting, luthery and metal working!

What are three things you know about St. Joseph Island and/or Sault Ste. Marie?

• Your architecture is sandstone based so the city is literally part of the landscape
• You are real close to the USA - shout out to our American friends, we love you!
• You have an awesome xc ski scene and residents who are super environmentally conscious. Sault Ste Marie is a really cool place :)

The Go North Music Festival is a one-day event held in Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island on July 13.

Headlining the 2019 lineup is the Juno award-winning blues/country artist Crystal Shawanda. Also included on the entertainment roster are Birds of Bellwoods (alt-rock), Sun K (rock), Skye Wallace (folk-rock), Sarah Smith (singer-songwriter), and Another Crush (indie rock), as well as local acts Jesse Merineau (indie pop-rock) and Dustin Jones and The Rising Tide (celtic punk rock).

Other festival highlights include food vendors, locally-crafted beer, and local artisans and producers. In addition to the main stage, there will be activities for kids and a kids stage with performances by the main stage acts (kids 12 and under are admitted to the festival for free).

Overnight camping will again be available for tents and trailers with an additional night of camping available on the Friday night before the festival.

Full festival details and ticket information can be found here.